Track By Tracks: Withering Soul - Passage Of The Arcane (2025)

1. Intro:

We wanted to stray away from the orchestral cinematic intros this time and opted for something simple, eerie, and suspenseful, capturing the effectiveness of the early extreme metal albums.

2. Attrition Horizon:

It was based on the Flannan Isles incident of 1900, when three lighthouse keepers disappeared without a trace. When relief showed up, nearly everything in the keepers' quarters was left intact, including a logbook. Of course, it opened a lot of speculation, but to this day, the cause of the disappearance has never been confirmed. The song begins in the format of a frenzied storm and takes the listener on a hellish ride, eventually progressing to much stranger soundscapes that would suggest other, more sinister forces underway.

3. Grievance Eludes the Light:

It is inspired by the Bell Witch haunting of early American lore, in which a pioneer family moved to and built a farm on a site that seemed innocent enough, only to have the entire family terrorized by an unseen entity appearing to have no other motive than revenge. It's a high-energy song with plenty of hooks, melodies, and a foreboding atmosphere.

4. The Monolith Embodied:

The theme of this song explores the story behind the infamous Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh, Scotland. Following a decisive battle defeat, a makeshift prison was set up on the grounds of the local church, leaving prisoners exposed to harsh elements and maltreatment at the hands of an infamous Lord Advocate who ultimately ended up being laid to rest in a grand, ornate mausoleum overlooking the graves of the many unfortunate souls that perished under his sentencing.

5. Gallery of the End:

Growing up in the Midwest, I was always fascinated with the discovery of older abandoned structures and the feeling of a centuries-old town or community that might have thrived years ago, only to fade into obscurity. From a lyrical standpoint, we unravel the vices and conflicts that may have gripped the American frontier in its early days, with nothing left today but an aura of crumbling structures and unfinished stories.

6. Trajectory:

This song deviates from our usual history and paranormal lore in exchange for a futuristic sci-fi theme that portrays the idea of sending manned crafts through an outer space portal, only for them to return not quite the same as they were before, and the potential consequences of traversing through alternate domains.

7. Among Covetous Eyes:

Inspired by the legends of Nahanni Valley (Headless Valley) that took place during the prospecting era of the Yukon territory, and the idea of what might have been lurking beyond the treeline. The music varies quite a bit between odd rhythms, cold blackened progressions, and climactic hooks.

8. Burden of the Valiant:

The Franklin Expedition took place at a time when few areas of the earth were left unexplored. The idea of a water-based passage from Greenland to Alaska would have been a highly ambitious undertaking with seemingly attainable rewards. A confidence earned from earlier expeditions propelled two crews to some of the most hostile and extreme reaches of the Earth, only to never be heard from again.